Petrol advice for new drivers

[Gemma95]

I'm new at drive and still getting the hang off it.

i was just wondering how long the petrol last. I'm still struggling to put petrol in my car so my mum has to do it for me currently.

i currently have 4 bars, how long will that last me?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Hello Gemma - welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

Your petrol tank should hold 45 litres, which includes a reserve. You should have a warning light which will come on when the fuel gets low, which may leave approx 4 litres as a reserve. 

 

[Gemma95]

Thank you. How many days does 4 bars last?

[Heidfirst]

2 minutes ago, Gemma95 said:

How many days does 4 bars last?

Depends how many miles you drive per day (& the type - urban, motorway etc.) ... 

[Gemma95]

I don't drive far like usually drive for about 20 minutes everyday 

[Madasafish]

20 mins a day is about 10 miles.

So assuming 7 days a week, 70miles..  which at 40mpg (or roundabout that ) will be 1.75 gallons of petrol or roughly 8 liters of petrol.

4 bars = roughly 4/5 of tank capacity or 35liters.

So 4 bars will roughly last for  4 weeks .. so I suggest you fill up after 3 and a half...(running out of petrol is not fun).

HTH

 

[jonquirk]

The gauge has eight bars. 45 litres is 10 gallons. So at 40 mpg a full tank gives a range of about 400 miles. If the gauge went down in a linear fashion four bars would be about 200 miles. In fact the tank is half full, or half empty, depending on your outlook, when five bars are showing. When only one bar remains it blinks and you have about 30 miles before the car runs out of fuel.

[bathtub tom]

14 minutes ago, jonquirk said:

When only one bar remains it blinks and you have about 30 miles before the car runs out of fuel.

I've never managed to get more than 36 litres in my tank. I once drove around with a 5 litre can of petrol in the boot for security, but after about thirty miles with the light flashing and the readout saying I had no miles left thirty miles ago, I chickened out and stopped at the next filling station (that was the time I got 36 litres in it).

I reckon the gauge and readout are highly pessimistic, but I'm not prepared to take it to the limit. Have you ever tried to start a modern car that's run out of petrol?

[jonquirk]

Bob, you have a 2014 Yaris, the OP and I have mark 1 cars a decade older. The most I have put in is 41.39 litres.

[MRichards]

My tank gets me about 300 miles from full to when the last bar starts blinking - I typically drive in 30, 40 speed limits and the car is sometimes driven quite spiritedly. Certainly good to know an approximate range of the last bar!

[mickburkesnr]

This is the motoring equivalent of asking "how long is a piece of string".

Putting aside the age of the vehicle for a moment, there are several factors involved in working out how much petrol your car should be using. How much weight do you put in the car? Is the boot always empty? Do you always have 4 people in the car with you? Extra weight means the engine has to work harder to make 30mph (for example) so it will use more petrol to get that extra energy.

Are your tyres always inflated to the correct pressures? Under/over inflated tyres affect the fuel due to the grip levels of the tyres.

What type of driving do you do? Is it strictly city driving? Is it strictly motorway driving at 70mph or 50mph? Or is it a mix of the two? You do tend to use more petrol in the city due to constantly getting the car from 0mph to 30mph and down again. Plus how aggressive are you when pulling away? Do you use high revs and make lots of noise or do you drive like a nun and very slowly pull away?

The best thing you can do is monitor how much fuel your car is using, then work out the MPG based on that. You'll never get the figures quoted by the manufacturer. But it will become fairly obvious to you when you do the math whether or not you're getting a respectable MPG back when you take in to consideration what I've outlined above, as well as the other posters.